Edward Cooley gets life without parole in slaying of Nicholas Hiller of Springfield

File photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanEdward A. Cooley stands in court during his arraignment last year on murder charges in the death of Nicholas Hiller.

SPRINGFIELD – Gail Hiller said Friday she tried to stop her son Nicholas P. Hiller from selling marijuana, but she hadn’t been successful in time to keep him alive.

The mother of six, speaking to Hampden Superior Court Judge Mary Lou Rup at the sentencing of Edward A. Cooley, said a first arrest for selling marijuana limited her 21-year-old son Nicholas’ prospects for getting a good job.

“No one was willing to give him a chance, but the street was always there,” she said.

Rup sentenced Cooley, 25, of Springfield, to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence for a first degree murder conviction for Hiller’s death.

Hiller, 21, of Springfield, of Springfield, was shot as he sat in his 1993 Mazda at Taft and Sylvan streets at around 12:20 a.m.

Evidence showed Hiller sold marijuana and was known to have the drug and cash on him.

Nicholas Hiller

Gail Hiller said Nicholas Hiller loved his family and his siblings, and he was always there for her.

She said, “There’s no word to adequately describe how bad this is for me.”

Samantha Bousquet, Nicholas Hiller’s sister, told Rup her brother was a loving, happy, giving person “with a heart as big as the world.”

She said there will now be a void in every celebration and every holiday.

Karl V. Hiller, Nicholas Hiller’s father, said he and his son had not been close for the last few years.

He said his son, when younger, was active in Boy Scouts and had been an honor student at Holy Name School.